


All Over Again

by Leebear



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Angst with a Happy Ending, Autism, Autistic Spencer Reid, Canon-Typical Behavior, Canon-Typical Violence, Child Spencer Reid, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, If You Squint - Freeform, Light Angst, Magical Accidents, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Alternating, Past Drug Addiction, Past Drug Use, Supernatural Elements, Young Spencer Reid
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:48:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26778379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leebear/pseuds/Leebear
Summary: Once Derek cradled him softly, bouncing him gently to calm him, the boy’s eyes settled on his face. The screaming had ceased, the crying boiled down to soft whimpers of discomfort. Suddenly his mind pieced everything together as a look of recognition crossed the baby’s face. Reid’s clothes. The Kevlar vest. The holster with the pistol Reid carried for years now. The sudden disappearance of Reid and the appearance of the just barely over 2-year-old.Oh.OH.Or; Someone is turning people back into their younger selves and suddenly the team have to care for Reid after an odd confrontation with the unsub.
Relationships: Aaron Hotchner & Spencer Reid, Derek Morgan & Spencer Reid, Emily Prentiss & Spencer Reid, Jennifer "JJ" Jareau & Spencer Reid, Penelope Garcia & Spencer Reid, Spencer Reid & The BAU Team, The BAU Team & Original Character(s)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 170





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The case that should’ve been open-closed, but took a very different turn than expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So this is my first (published) work within the fandom. I’ve already seen the entire series, and have recently been watching with my sister for her first time. She gave me the idea of Tiny Reid and the BAU, cause “there’s not enough fluff moments in the show.”
> 
> Anyway, I wanna quickly say that this is an AU I’ve come up with. Basically, Demons and Angels exist, and so does like, magic and stuff. Humans don’t really do magic, Demons and Angels are much more powerful with magic, and Nephilim (Angel-human hybrids) and Demon-human hybrids can also use magic. I’ve sorta let Reid explain that in this first chapter. 
> 
> Pretty much, everything in CM is the same, except for the existence of some supernatural creatures.
> 
> Please enjoy!

The case should’ve been easy.

Sure, there was a certain… odd element to the unsub’s signature. It had been confusing at first, considering the nature of the crimes. Or one should say the apparent nature of the crimes. It wasn’t until Reid and Garcia deciphered the missing pieces that they finally managed to locate their unsub.

The case had been in a small town in North Carolina. The bodies of 5 children had turned up in alleys and abandoned buildings. A local group of teenagers had located the first body, and it wasn’t long before the police found the rest. The first signature had been clear; a faded lipstick stain on the children’s forehead. 

That’s when the Behavioral Analysis Unit had been called in, when the local sheriff realized he had a serial killer on his hands.

In the few hours into a day that the BAU team had been there, someone else in the town had gone missing. The only reason they didn’t connect it sooner, Hotch would admit later, was that it had been a 27-year-old male, not a child. 

The most confusing part of the case, was that the identities of the children weren’t clear. Garcia hadn’t been able to find any matching descriptions of the children to missing child cases in the area. When Dr. Spencer Reid and David Rossi had visited the Medical Examiner for the autopsy reports when the team had first landed, there was an interesting discovery.

“Teeth and fingers appear to be undamaged,” Spencer remarked as he got a look over the most recent body, the lifeless form of a 4-year-old boy with dark dirty blonde hair.

“Are you sure you weren’t able to identify any of them?” Rossi added as Spencer’s gloved hands traced over the body’s bruised marks.

The M.E. sighed, “No, unfortunately not.”

“Were you at least able to find cause of death for each of them?” Rossi pressed.

“Asphyxiation. Each of these kids had water in their lungs.”

“So they were drowned?” The M.E nodded to the older agent.

Spencer stood straighter from his hunched position over the metal slab, “There’s light bruising on the shoulders, like they were held down roughly. The unsub held them down while they drowned.”

Rossi nodded in agreement, now finally looking at the child’s body. He noticed Spencer’s brows furrow together with a contemplative look on his face, the usual look of the genius’ brain starting to turn. “What do you see, Reid?”

“There’s what look like track marks on their arms, here...” he trailed off as he pointed with his pinkie to the small red dots of indented skin along the kids’ arm, “it’s like he was injecting them with something.” Rossi looked back up to the medical examiner as Reid continued talking, “there’s also small scorch marks along the arm too.”

“Did you find any traces of drugs or magic in their systems?” 

“I did find traces of Ketamine in all of their systems, and there’s an extremely high level of magic in all of them as well.”

This only confused both FBI agents further. “Why would an unsub use a date rape drug on children? There are plenty of other ways to control a kid, especially ones as young as these are.” Derek Morgan said when the pair came back from the medical examiner. It was later that same night on the day the team had arrived, when Morgan and Prentiss were done looking over the last dump site, and Hotch and JJ had set up everything at the police precinct. 

“That and the high levels of magic is a weird combination. What the hell is this guy doing with these kids?” Prentiss said from her spot leaned up against the conference room table.

“All of the kids are human, not any kind of supernatural that would normally have this level of magic within their systems,” Reid commented. Since coming back from the M.E, he’d set to work on the geographical profile. There wasn’t much to do with that aspect of the profile, however, since they only had dump site locations and not where the kids lived or where the unsub had managed to grab them.

“There’s a normal amount of magic that’s that high?” The local sheriff, Sheriff Welch, questioned, arms crossed and brows raised as he looked over the profilers.

Spencer nodded, turning around to face the sheriff instead of facing the board. “Humans typically don’t have any magic in their bodies, the most is low levels if a person were to pick up something like witchcraft where they practice essentially homemade magic, or if there’s a supernatural in their ancestry. On the other hand, supernatural’s like angels, demons, and hybrids of the two have higher levels of magic since they are supposedly descended from Heaven. Additionally, angel and demon offspring like Nephilim and demon-human hybrids have anywhere between little and high levels of magic, it really all depends on how much power they use and for what.” The young doctor’s hands flittered around as he spoke, like always he was speaking with his hands in addition to his fast-paced explanation.

The sheriff eyed him for a moment as the room went quiet. The rest of the team was used to Spencer’s rambling, but there was usually always a problem with local law enforcement and Reid’s ability to speed talk for hours on end if not interrupted and redirected back on track.

The rest of the night was spent building a base profile; a pedophile that was targeting young, prepubescent boys that were human. They weren’t able to do much else that night, considering they had no lead on victimology and Garcia hadn’t been able to find any registered sex offenders that targeted their age range or species preference.

That is, however, the next day when Spencer had made the pieces of the puzzle fit.

“ _What can I do for you, Junior G-Man_?” Garcia’s voice came from Spencer’s phone in one hand, coffee mug in the other, as he stood in front of the evidence board and the map that had the start of his geographical profile.

“Garcia, do me a favor and humor me on this one.”

“ _Oh, do you have a theory you wanna test_?” He could hear the smirk in her voice.

He nodded, even though she couldn’t see him. “Instead of missing children, can you look for any open missing person cases in the area, search nearby counties or the entire state if you have to.”

The sound of fast clicking on a keyboard filled the silence as Garcia compiled his search. “ _I got a couple dozen names, what do you want me to do with them?_ ”

“Do a dive through records for me on all of them, can you find pictures of them as children, same age range as our victims, 4 to 8 years old.”

There was silence for a moment.

“ _What are you thinking, Reid?_ ” Garcia spoke up again as she began her search for the odd request.

“With the high magic levels and the inability to identify the victims, I think the unsub may be transforming the victims.”

There was a long “oh” sound from Garcia, “ _I see what you’re getting at, Boy Wonder. I’ll hit you back when I got something,_ ” the line clicked and then Spencer was alone again.

Moments later, Garcia called back. “ _I got something. It… Reid I’ll be honest, it sounds crazy, but it makes sense now._ ” There was a pause, and Spencer waited for her to continue as some files were sent his way.

“I know why we couldn’t match the victims to any missing child cases,” Spencer started as Hotch and Prentiss came back into the conference room later after his and Garcia’s discovery, “They aren’t missing children cases. They’re missing person cases.”

“What do you mean?”

Spencer turned to a new board that had appeared, and five photos of five men from missing person cases were up, matched with old school photos and crime scene photos. “Each of these men, ages in the 20’s, went missing up to 2 days before the time of death for each child. I think the unsub has found a way to magically revert them back into a younger version of themselves.”

Prentiss stared with her mouth slightly open in surprise, and Hotch just looked a little more confused. “How would that even be possible?” She asked aloud.

“It wouldn’t be, normally, not to any human or half-breed offspring of a supernatural. It would be through what we commonly refer to as ‘Big Magic’, the means of a large spell or use of magic that bends the fabric of reality. Usually, if a human or supernatural hybrid were to perform a ‘Big Magic’, there would be a consequence, for instance there was a case with a young Nephilim woman who went blind after cursing a diner waitress for harassing her girlfriend- “

“Reid, get to the point,”

“Right, uh… my point is, something like this could be done by a demon or angel. We need to readjust our profile.” Spencer wrapped up. “I also think that recent missing, William Brown, could be the next victim of this unsub.”

Prentiss walked over to the table to pick up the discarded file of the missing person case. They’d taken it, at the sheriff’s insistence, but because they never made the connection. Until now, that is. “Brown seems to match the victimology. He’s a white, human male in his mid 20’s, brunet.”

“Instead of a male offender, I think we’re looking for a female,” Spencer went on, “the lipstick mark on the victims is a like a mother kissing her child goodnight. She may have lost her own child and is trying to recreate them.”

As Prentiss and Reid spoke, Hotch pulled his phone out and dialed Garcia, the technical analyst picking up almost immediately to get her to start searching with their new base profile.

The search was on again.

The easy case that became complicated and strange, in turn, meant that the take down of the unsub was also going to be unusual and complicated.

Their unsub, 34-year-old Crystal James, was easy enough to locate.

Crystal, a demon, had lost her first and only son Michael, a demon-human hybrid, at age 3. He’d been with his father, a human, when the man had looked away from bath time for a moment to answer a phone call, and the kid had drowned.

No one could’ve predicted what she was going to do next.

The team had essentially split up, covering more ground that way in order to cover all the ways that the unsub could go in the abandoned building.

Of course, the room that Spencer had gone into had been the one where the unsub had been performing her twisted delusions. Scientific equipment lined the room, as well as odd runes and symbols that covered the floor and walls. The only light in the fairly large room was hanging lights from the celling, dim lights coming from the fixtures. It was eerily quiet, save for the whimpers of the child strapped to a chair in the middle of the room.

Despite the hair standing up on the back of his neck that warned him of potential danger, Spencer put his gun in his holster as he lifted his wrist to speak into the coms to communicate with his team. “I have Brown, looks maybe about 3 years old,” he spoke quietly in case he and the boy weren’t alone.

Spencer quickly crossed the room and crouched in front of the chair. “Hey, buddy… it’s going to be okay, I’m with the good guys,” he spoke softly, like he would to Henry when he was upset. But just as he went to undo the restraints on the poor, crying kid, Spencer felt a heavy smack to his head, and in seconds, he was on the ground, groaning as his vision swam.

He barely registered the unfortunate familiar feeling of a needle being pressed into his skin, but instead of the regular inner-elbow, the sensation of being injected with a foreign substance was in his upper arm, near his shoulder. He opened his mouth to cry out, nearly pleading to not have any form of narcotics, begging for his life, but the effects were almost instant as a warm rush of energy filled him.

It was seconds.

Seconds that Aaron Hotchner would never let himself live down.

Everyone had received Reid’s report of finding the child that was William Brown, and had cleared every other room. Hotch made out Morgan’s outline as they silently met up from opposite ends of the corridor, making their way towards Reid to offer assistance.

Hotch heard it first, the unmistakable outcry of a small child. It sounded way younger than the unsub had been turning the previous victims. With one look to Morgan, who returned the confused and concerned glance, the two agents made their way quickly to the room where the cry had come from.

“FBI!” Morgan shouted as he and Hotch entered the room. What they saw, they had not expected.

Crystal James was standing next to a pile of clothes on the floor, reaching for the screaming, crying baby that was tangled in the pile of clothes as she stood next to a restrained, whimpering 3-year-old version of William Brown.

It was nearly seconds later that Derek saw it, the Kevlar vest that sat in the middle of the pile of clothes and the holster that contained the pistol that Reid carried. The baby seemed to be in the middle of it all, much too small to fit properly in them. In Reid’s clothes. “Crystal James, step away from the children, now,” Hotch said firmly, pulling Derek away from his thoughts before they could make sense to him.

“No!” Crystal cried, her wide, glazed eyes turning away from the baby to look at the two, “I finally got it right! You can’t take this from me!”

She turned her body, a pair of small, black wings appearing and extending on her back threateningly as a small flame caught in her hands. She started charging at the two agents, but Derek and Hotch reacted faster.

Two gunshots rang out, hitting Crystal in the chest, and she collapsed as the restrained 3-year-old cried out in fear. Immediately after, Hotch and Derek turned all their focus to the children as the rest of the team approached the room, having heard the gunshots. Prentiss and Rossi walked in just as Hotch started to undo William’s restraints.

Derek fell to his knees near the pile of clothes and equipment his brain finally recognized and put together. “Hey, hey, I got you,” He said softly as he used the sweater to wrap around the still crying baby.

The baby he now messily swaddled and picked up was maybe no more than 2 years old, just barely a toddler, with pale skin, a mop of curly brown hair, and hazel-brown eyes that were glossy with tears as he continued to cry. 

Once Derek cradled him softly, bouncing him gently to calm him, the boy’s eyes settled on his face. The screaming had ceased, the crying boiled down to soft whimpers of discomfort. Suddenly his mind pieced everything together as a look of recognition crossed the baby’s face.

Reid’s clothes.

The Kevlar vest.

The holster with the pistol Reid carried for years now.

The sudden disappearance of Reid and the appearance of the just barely over 2-year-old.

Oh.

 _OH_.

“Hotch…” Derek looked to his unit chief as he was starting to lead William towards Prentiss and Rossi.

“Where’s Reid?” Prentiss finally voiced, the agent having realized their youngest was nowhere to be seen. Carefully, Derek stood up, getting the baby in his arms to settle and quiet down.

No, wait, not the baby.

 _Spencer_.

“I think this _is_ Reid.”

Everyone froze, staring at the makeshift bundle in Derek’s arms. He adjusted his hold so the child was sitting upright, resting him on his hip partially. He figured with his vest, Spencer wasn’t very comfortable no matter where he put him, but he noticed the kid seemed happier sitting upright so he could see everyone.

“Oh my God…” Prentiss breathed as she looked at the baby version of Reid, “She must’ve gotten to him before we did.”

“We need to get out of here, I don’t think there’s anything that would change him back. Besides, we have to get Brown out.” Hotch said, redirecting everyone out of the room.

Derek continued to carry Spencer as Hotch had scooped up William Brown, the men carrying the children out as they were followed by Prentiss and Rossi. In a few minutes, they were out of the building and speaking with local police, the crime scene people going in to take care of the body left behind. 

A soft whine came from Spencer, and Derek looked down to see the boy trying to hide in his shoulder, his little face being pressed against the thin fabric of Derek’s shirt, his tiny hands covering his ears. It took seconds for him to figure out that the lights and sounds of the police cars and ambulance was a little much for the 2-year-old.

“Hotch, I’m going to take Reid to the SUV, so it’s less loud for him,” Derek told the unit chief, who nodded in approval. 

He quickly made his way to the SUV were JJ was sitting against the hood, and her face broke into confusion immediately when she didn’t notice a certain someone with the group and instead found Derek carrying a baby.

“Where’s Reid?” She asked as Derek approached.

Giving a small sigh escaped him, and he looked JJ in the eyes. “This _is_ Reid. The unsub got him when he found Brown.”

JJ’s eyes went wide and she gasped, “Oh my God...” She breathed. Quickly, she undid the straps of her Kevlar vest, and she opened the backseat to throw it inside. She then held out her arms, “Let me take him. I’ve got more experience, and you gotta drive.”

It was silent for a moment before he finally moved. “Hey, Spencer, JJ’s gonna take you, alright?” He whispered softly to the kid in his arms. Spencer made no movement or noise to acknowledge he heard what Derek said, save for the soft whimpers he was still making from being overwhelmed. Carefully, JJ took him from Derek’s arms.

Spencer whined louder, almost crying at the transfer, but JJ quickly shushed him. “Spence, you’re alright, it’s me, it’s JJ. I’ve got you.”

Wide, glossy brown eyes opened and looked up at her, his hands still on his ears. “Hey little guy, there you are. Let’s get you into something more comfortable, yeah?” JJ smiled softly as Derek opened the passenger door of the SUV for her.

Quickly, the two climbed in as Derek started the car. “Morgan, you gotta be careful, we don’t have a seat for him.” JJ said as she got buckled in. He nodded, and in no time they were on the road back to the precinct. 

A few minutes into the drive back, Hotch called. JJ picked up as Spencer snuggled into her, one of her arms wrapped around him to keep him secure against her middle as Derek drove. The sweater Derek used as a makeshift swaddle was more on Spencer’s lap, leaving his bare chest exposed. Lucky for the both of them, the kid seemed to be calming down in the quiet environment with his two best friends.

“Hotch?” JJ answered after a few rings.

“ _Are you taking Reid back to the precinct?_ ”

“Yeah, we’re on our way now,” JJ put the phone on speaker so Derek could hear.

“ _Good. I want you two to stop by a store to purchase some clothes that actually fit him. I’m not flying him back to DC in nothing but that sweater._ ” Spencer picked his head up at Hotch’s voice coming from the phone. JJ had to tighten her grip on him to keep him still because he started squirming like he was reaching for the phone, babbling a little.

“Understood,” Morgan said, not looking away from the road. Usually, he’d be driving a little faster than normal, but the current situation had him driving under the speed limit for once.

“ _Keep me posted._ ” Hotch said as he hung up. JJ went to put her phone away, instead of figuring a way to put it back in her pocket, she put it on the seat, next to her leg.

Hours passed since the takedown of the unsub. Some of the local officers at the precinct gave JJ and Morgan weird looks as they entered and went into the conference room with a 2-year-old, who was now wearing a soft set of pajamas. Spencer nearly threw a fit in the store, wanting something a little more formal, but none of the button-ups felt right to him, so Derek had insisted on finding some softer clothes for him to wear. They finally settled on dark blue footed pajamas, buying a few extra pairs just in case. In addition, they’d also bought diapers and pull-ups.

The rest of the team was back at this point, and they were relatively quiet as they watched Spencer walk around in the conference room, trying to explore his reverted state.

“What’s going to happen to him?” Prentiss asked suddenly as Spencer got to his bag and ended up dumping the contents to find his book. “it’s not like we can take him back to his mother while we figure out what to do."

Hotch sighed, “No, we can’t, and I don’t want to send him anywhere. He seems to remember all of us, which is good. I don’t think the unsub changed much mentally.”

“Hotch we can’t babysit him and do our jobs at the same time. We can’t exactly take him into crime scenes.” Morgan said, giving Hotch a concerned look.

Derek had a point. Mentally the same or not, they couldn’t very well bring a child with them to crime scenes, or really travel with him. They were a man down, and they couldn’t have someone stay behind to watch him, or they’d be two down.

“We’ll figure it out,” Rossi said. “We can all take turns with him when we don’t have a case, and we’ll figure out what to do if we do get a case. We just need to be there for him.”

Everyone seemed to be in agreement. No one was going to just let Spencer go through this alone.

The real question that no one wanted to voice aloud, as to not worry or stress the 2-year-old, was how they were going to change him back.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The flight home that no one was really ready for, but managed just fine anyway

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanna thank you guys for the support this fic has gotten so far. I've been in a writing slump for a while now, and it makes me happy to know that people are enjoying this! Comments are always welcome, it lets me know I'm doing a good thing :)
> 
> Anyway, enjoy this update!

Wrapping up at the police precinct had been easy enough. The team managed to finish filing reports and helped the local police clean up. JJ had taken the liberty of sitting with Spencer while the others cleaned up the conference room, the 2-year-old had ended up falling asleep curled up at her side. She figured with everything that had been going on around him, Spencer must’ve been exhausted. Especially since his big brain had been restrained, and there was really no way for him to help out the way he used to.

Sheriff Welch approached Hotch as the rest of his team was getting packed up into the SUVs, being quiet since JJ was carrying the sleeping Spencer. “Thanks for all your help, Agent Hotchner. I’m sorry for your agent…”

Hotch slightly tightened his crossed arms. “You’re very welcome, Sheriff. What happened to Dr. Reid was… unexpected. No one could’ve seen it coming,” He replied. Internally, he was blaming _himself_ for what happened to Reid. After all, he was his boss, whatever happened to him was his responsibility.

The Sheriff just nodded, offering a handshake, which Hotch took firmly, and then headed out. Over by the SUVs, Rossi looked over and gave Hotch a look. The Unit Chief took a breath, and headed for the front passenger’s side of the car. 

The team had been split between two SUVs to get back to the air strip. Morgan, JJ and Spencer was in one, while Hotch, Rossi, and Prentiss were in the other. JJ had assured him that she had a handle on their sleeping friend, Morgan had been fine driving from the unsub’s location to the station, so one more trip with Spencer in her lap wasn’t going to be a huge deal.

Hotch let out a sigh once the door was closed and the other SUV was pulling out of the police parking lot. He ran a hand over his face as Rossi started their car. “We need an actual plan to handle Reid.” Hotch said.

“Morgan was right Hotch,” Prentiss spoke up from the back seat, “we can’t babysit him with our work schedules.”

“And we can’t exactly fly Mrs. Reid out here to take care of him, she’s in no condition to do that again,” Rossi added as he started following the other car out, “I know the kid loves his mother, and in this state he might miss her more than usual, but we can’t do that to either of them.”

Hotch sighed, nodding in agreement. “I think we should rotate him around, even if he hates the change. Someone’ll have him for a few days after work, and while in the office Garcia could look after him.”

“What about if and when we have a case?” Rossi asked. He was never one to really question Hotch, but no one was really equipped to suddenly take care of a 2-year-old. Well, maybe except JJ.

“Garcia will still keep him in her office during the day, and he can sleep at her place. I don’t really think he can handle a hired babysitter right now, I think a stranger looking after him would do more harm than good.”

Prentiss looked between the two men, leaning forward in her seat slightly, her elbows resting on her knees. “Maybe we could make a chart, a schedule Reid can visibly see and stick too. We don’t know how long he’ll be like that, but that could be the stability to get him through.”

There was a slight hum of agreement from Rossi as Hotch nodded, “That sounds like a plan. We’ll relay to Morgan, JJ, and Garcia on the flight home.”

Said flight home was…. Slightly more challenging than they’d anticipated. 

Hotch had taken his usual spot in a seat across the isle from the table, looking over his team. Morgan and JJ had opted to sit in the seats at the table, Rossi and Prentiss across from them. Usually, they would be more spread out, but with Spencer sitting in JJ’s lap still, now more awake then he had been on the ride over, they all silently agreed that they should be closer for his sake.

Waiting for the jet to take off had been calm, the soft hum of the jet had seemed to be soothing for Spencer, and he was close to falling asleep again. As they buckled up to get ready to take off, as the jet started moving down the runway and picked up speed, the quiet broke.

As the jet engines got louder, Spencer whined, causing everyone to look over at him in concern. When he whined louder and pressed his hands to his ears, JJ held him tighter to her, hoping the sensation would be more of a grounding feeling for him.

Instead, Spencer whined again, a distressed hum escaping him as he tried to wiggle away from her. “Spencer, you have to stay still, we’re still taking off,” JJ said as she kept him in her lap still. It was easier to keep him where he was since he was smaller.

Spencer’s face scrunched in discomfort, the distressed humming not slowing down. His eyes weren’t still or screwed shut, instead the big brown eyes were actively searching for something, but he didn’t have a focused look in his eyes.

That’s when Hotch pieced it together as JJ tried to sooth him still, and Reid’s head was trying to look behind him towards the back of the jet. Hotch looked back, then back to the group, and Rossi was giving him a similar look of recognition as Hotch looked to the back of the jet again.

“You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Yup,” Hotch quickly got up from his seat, the jet seemed to be leveling out anyway, and headed for the back of the jet.

Where they usually kept their go-bags, and where they’d also put Reid’s messenger bag since the boy couldn’t carry it himself.

Hotch snatched up the leather bag, the strap were worn from Spencer’s hands always rubbing at it whenever he wore it over his shoulder. The bag itself, the others knew, was more of a comfort item that Spencer could carry around and wouldn’t be questioned for it. It’s contents were always specific for what Reid needed at any given moment.

And Hotch had realized there was an item within the bag that would be a huge help for the shrunken agent.

He still kept the bag with him as he came back to his seat, the sound of Spencer’s humming still filling the room to match the sound of jet engines. Hotch flipped the bag open carefully, taking gentle care as he sifted through the contents.

The bag held very much what one would think Reid would carry around. There was two books that he had been carrying to read, a multitude of different colored pens and markers held within a clear pencil-pouch, various files he had about the current case. 

The bag, additionally, carried items that Reid only brought out when he really needed him. Such as the noise-cancelling headphones Hotch was currently pulling out.

Hotch set the bag down, and got up from his seat to crouch in the isle next to JJ’s seat, essentially being level with Spencer now. “Spencer,” He called his name to get his attention, waiting as the wide brown eyes finally landing on him for a moment, the humming going quieter as he saw what he had been looking for. His hands left his ears as he reached for the headphones, making incoherent noise instead of the humming.

“Here, Spence,” JJ said softly as she grabbed the headphones from Hotch. Spencer’s eyes followed them, his head tilting up as he bounced slightly in her lap. JJ managed to get the headphones on his head and over his ears. 

Spencer resumed humming to himself, but it was no longer distressed. It was more to sooth himself now that the headphones were on, Hotch figured it was easier now for him to focus on the noise now that the sounds of the jet engine were drowned out, the feeling his throat had from the sound must be helping as well.

The jet was quiet, save for Spencer’s hums, as Hotch sat back in his seat and JJ finally, gently, put her arms around the kid again.

“How did you know what he wanted?” Prentiss finally broke the silence. All eyes went on their unit chief, well except for Spencer’s. 

Hotch looked between all of them. “Reid doesn’t usually use them in the field, but he keeps them with him just in case, as per my request. He’s assured me before that he shouldn’t have any issues in the field, but there are times when he’s overwhelmed by sounds. Pulling those headphones out is one of the first things Reid does when he gets like that.”

The others seemed to nod and took the explanation. “I’m just glad he has stuff with him to prevent things from getting worse,” Morgan said, his eyes going from Hotch to Spencer in JJ’s lap.

“It took me a while to convince him he could do whatever he needed to take care of himself,” Hotch nodded, “But he and I have worked things out.”

It fell silent for a while between the agents, usual post-case conversations came up short as all of their focus seemed to be on Spencer, who’s humming had quieted a little bit after his initial panic from the take-off. 

It felt like forever, but realistically it had been just barely half an hour before Spencer looked between his friends, his eyes finding Morgan, who’s slipped on his own headphones to listen to music not long after conversation had gone quiet.

JJ watched as Spencer leaned forward slightly, his tiny hands gently tapping at Derek’s leg. What followed made everyone freeze where they were, eyes snapping to the 2-year-old in surprise.

“Morg’n, couch? Nap?” Spencer said. His voice was much smaller and lighter than anticipated, sounding groggy and definitely sleepy. His drooping eyes were staring up at him, a fist coming up to rub at them tiredly.

Derek quickly looked over, having caught the tail end of the request. He came out of his initial surprise that Spencer had asked _him_ out of everyone. Slipping his headphones off, Derek nodded and gave him a soft smile, “Of course, kid, come ‘ere.”

Spencer’s arms reached out for him, and JJ snapped out of her surprise to gently hand Spencer off to Derek, who carefully wrapped him up in his arms as he stood up to walk over to the couch seats in the jet.

He got settled gently, leaning up against the wall, sort of half-way laying down and half sitting up. Spencer was settled pretty quickly, tiredness overcoming his tiny body. The 2-year-old snuggled up on Derek’s chest. He put his arms around him gently, one arm supporting Spencer under his butt and the other hand rested gently on his back, rubbing him gently. The headphones Spencer had been wearing had to come off, in order to actually be comfortable. Derek noticed the kid’s head was more on the left side. He guessed Spencer was listening to his heartbeat in order to have a sound to lull him to sleep.

It wasn’t long before the kid was asleep curled up on Derek. JJ smiled over at them from her seat, and Derek smiled back. Hotch seemed to be smiling, but it was always hard to tell with that man.

Rossi got up in order to grab a spare blanket out of the small storage area across from the coffee station, coming back to drape the fabric over Spencer and Derek carefully. Derek mouthed and whispered a soft, “thank you,” to the older agent, who just smiled and pat his shoulder carefully.

And that’s where the two of them stayed for the rest of the flight, with Spencer soundly sleeping against Derek’s chest.

Around the last 15-minute leg of the journey, Hotch finally made the call that he’d been putting off since discovering the now small Reid.

“This is Aaron Hotchner with the Behavioral Analysis Unit, I need to speak with someone from the Magical Investigations Unit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, regular comments are appreciated, but if there's anything specific you guys wanna see with Reid between other characters, let me know! I wanna know what you guys wanna see, it gives me ideas to write more often


	3. Hotch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The meeting with a specialist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we get to character specific chapters! That's not to say there won't be other characters involved in the chapter, but typically whoever's name is in the chapter title is gonna be the POV focus for the chapter.
> 
> Also, thank you guys so much for the support on this so far. I'm really happy that people are excited by this dumb idea I had XD  
> Anyway, please enjoy! <3

The landing managed to be not as eventful as the take off. 

Spencer was still peacefully sleeping against Morgan’s chest, his hands clutching the blanket Rossi had draped over them in one hand, and part of Morgan’s shirt in the other. Hotch was nearly about to let them stay that way until Spencer woke up, but he knew they had to get back into the office to finish up for the day.

Morgan continued to carry the little Dr. Reid back up to the bullpen, much to the confusion of multiple other agents within the building. With the blanket gone and the constant movement, Spencer was awake. Not totally awake, but his eyes were blinking open and he was moving again.

Walking into the bullpen past the glass doors, Spencer whined slightly from the bright lights. “I know, kid, how about we go to my office?” Morgan offered softly, letting Spencer rest his head against his shoulder to try and block out the light.

“Actually, Morgan, I’m going to need him in my office,” Hotch redirected as the others left for their respected desks or office, “I’m meeting with someone from M.I.U, and I’m going to need Reid with me.”

Morgan gave a confused look for a moment, then he just nodded. “As long as we get pretty boy here somewhere not as bright, right, kid?” He smiled down at him gently, patting his back softly to rouse Spencer into a response.  
With half-closed eyes, Spencer did in fact lift his head to look between Morgan and Hotch, and he offered a soft “’Kay,” with a small nod of his head. Both agents gave a proud smile in response.

Together, Morgan and Hotch headed up to the Unit Chief’s office, with one carrying the tiny Spencer in his arms and the other carried Spencer’s messenger bag and go bag. Once inside, Hotch immediately went to turn his desk lamp on rather than the room’s lights, and even closed the blinds on both sets of windows; the ones that looked out over the bullpen and the ones that looked outside.

Hotch set the bags he was carrying down next to his desk as Morgan took a seat on the couch in the office with Spencer, moving to sit him on his lap. Once seated at his desk, Hotch pulled out the files from the case they’d just closed. Even with the meeting, he still needed to work on the proper documents to turn in.

It felt like hours had passed, but eventually there was a knock at the door. “Come in,” Hotch said, careful to keep his voice at a quieter volume for Spencer’s sake. Not that he was a loud person normally, but he wasn’t sure what would exactly make Spencer upset now.

The door opened, and Garcia stood in the doorway, one arm still on the knob as she leaned into the office. “Sir, there’s an Agent from Magical Investigations here to see you?” There was a tone of curiosity in her voice, the bright smile she always wore was a bit tamer in the face of her boss.

Hotch nodded, “Thank you, Garcia, you can send them up.”

“If I may ask,” Garcia’s hand left the doorknob, and she took a step in the room, “Why is there an agent from Magical Investigations here to see you?”

Hotch sighed, and his eyes darted over to Morgan and Reid. “Reid was… affected by our unsub.” Was all he said.

Garcia’s smile dropped, face going slack in surprise, “Reid… what?” Her head turned quickly as Hotch pointed to his couch, and her face immediately widened in surprise and then melted. “Oh my God!”

Although rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he looked up at her, Spencer’s eyes lit up immediately in recognition. “Hi ‘Cia!” He said brightly, lifting his hand away from his face to wave at her.

Morgan smiled widely and chuckled as Garcia immediately crouched to the ground to be more level with the 2-year-old. “Hello Spence! Oh my God you’re so small!” She mimicked Spencer’s little wave, curling her fingers up and down rather than flapping her hand for the movement. Spencer’s face seemed to flush in embarrassment at her statement about his size.

“Garcia, there will be plenty of time for this later, but I need to see that Agent,” Hotch interrupted, causing Garcia to turn her head quickly over at her boss. Her smile faded slightly, and she stood back up as she cleared her throat.

“Right, of course, sorry, Sir. I’ll – I’ll send them right up,” Garcia headed back towards the door as Morgan stood with Spencer.

“You got him, Hotch?” Morgan asked as he brought Spencer over to sit him in one of the chairs across from the desk. Spencer pouted slightly at that, crossing his little arms and made a low hum,

Hotch nodded, “Yes of course, Morgan,”

Satisfied, Morgan began to follow Garcia out, putting an arm around her shoulders, “Come on, baby girl, I promise you can cuddle him later,” He was saying as the door closed.

“’M not small!” Spencer’s tiny voice caused Hotch to look back at the 2-year-old sitting across from him. He could barely see him over the desk, really only able to see the mop of curly brown hair. But Hotch didn’t need to see all of him to know that Spencer was still pouting.

He let out a rare chuckle at his tiny agent. “Spencer, you’re 2-years-old again. It’s fair to call you small.”

If Reid had been his normal self, Hotch figured he’d get an earful about size in relation to age, and it seemed he would’ve, but all that came out of Spencer was a small whine in protest.

Not long after Morgan and Garcia had left, there was another knock at the door. “Come in,” Hotch said immediately, looking up at the door as Spencer turned around to see who was there.

As the door opened, a woman stepped through. She was darker skinned, her dark hair tied up into a semi loose bun that sort of complemented the button up and dress-pants she wore. The cuffs were folded up to her elbows, and the top 2 buttons at least were open, allowing Hotch to see the small gold locket she wore. The woman’s badge was clipped to her pants. She looked like a typical bureau employee. The only thing that set her apart was her eyes; one was a soft orange color while the other was a pale blue. That’s what gave away her supernatural nature.

“You must be from M.I.U?” Hotch asked as he stood to greet the agent. She nodded as she stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. Spencer sank down in his seat, trying to sit up properly in the seat. It didn’t work very well since his feet just barely reached the edge of the chair.

“Yes, Sir, I’m Special Agent Diane Astra, I essentially am in charge of M.I.U,” She introduced herself as Hotch extended her hand for her to shake, which she did.

“I’m SSA Hotcher,” He introduced, “And this is Dr. Spencer Reid.” He pointed towards the small agent in the chair.

Agent Astra looked down, and Hotch noticed her expression softening as she looked at him. She smiled warmly at him, a hint of a teasing smile pulling on her lips. “Looks a little young to be a doctor, aren’t you?”

“Ph.D.’s,” Spencer said slowly, looking away from her and more towards his superior, “phree of them,” He explained as if it were obvious to be a 2-year-old with three doctorates.

“Ah,” Astra nodded, “of course.” She moved to sit down in the chair next to the one Spencer was in as Hotch sat down. Almost immediately after the two older agents sat down, Spencer managed to get down from off the chair, and quickly toddled his way behind the desk and tried to crawl into Hotch’s lap.

Hotch sighed slightly, not out of annoyance, but just letting the sound out instead of a chuckle as to not embarrass Reid further. He gently picked Spencer up, setting him down in his lap. Spencer nestled into the embrace quickly, peaking out just barely at the new person across from them.

“Dr. Reid isn’t normally like this, that’s why I’ve asked for your assistance.” 

“Right, your tech girl sent me the files from that case in North Carolina you guys just wrapped up.” Astra nodded, looking more like she had when she entered as she looked at Hotch to talk to him.

“Unfortunately, the unsub was shot before we could ask her about a possible reversal process. Dr. Reid isn’t the only one stuck at a younger age, the last victim we managed to save, but he is stuck at about 3 years old.”

Agent Astra nodded again as she took the information. “I can open an investigation to figure out a reversal process. I can’t promise any immediate results, but it would be a start. Is it possible to relocate the other affected victim here to DC to keep an eye on him?”

Hotch thought about it for a moment as he absentmindedly, gently, rubbed Spencer’s back with his hand to sooth the kid. “I can see if we can arrange that.”

She broke into a small smile, “Great. Now, Agent Hotchner, I will do my best to reverse this, but you have to be prepared for the possibility of this being permanent. It would take some pretty Big Magic to reverse a permanent spell.”

There was a soft whine at that, and Hotch looked down to see a worried look on Spencer’s face as he flapped his hands nervously. Hotch continued to rub his back in hopes to sooth him. “I understand,” He looked back up at Agent Astra.

“Uh, Sir, if I may,” Astra said softly as she glanced at Spencer for a moment, “maybe try rocking him a little. Some kids find the movement soothing.”

Hotch blinked at her for a moment, before looking down at Spencer as he slowly started rocking himself back and forth, the whole chair tilting with the small movement. Just as slowly, Spencer’s body seemed to mimic the rocking motion Hotch was setting, and the nervous flapping settled into stillness as he seemed to focus on the rocking motion more.

“How- ”

“I have kids at home,” Astra shrugged slightly with a soft smile and chuckle, “my middle two have special needs, and the older of the two is sort of like your kiddo,” She nodded to Spencer knowingly.

“Ah, well, thank you for the tip,” Hotch said as he and Spencer both settled into gentle, small rocking motions. It really seemed to be soothing the young genius.

“Of course,” Astra cleared her throat as she then changed the subject, “anyway, I’ll read the files from your case to get the specifics about the magic that was used to do this, and hopefully retrace the steps to try and reverse it.”

Hotch nodded, “Thank you, Agent Astra, I really appreciate it.” He used a free hand to extend it to shake her hand in farewell.

She took it, shaking his hand before she stood up to see herself out, “Of course, Sir. It’s not every day you get to work with the BAU,” She chuckled slightly, “I’ll keep you updated.”

Nodding once again, and offering another “thank you” in addition to his “Goodbye, Agent Astra,” Hotch stayed seated as she left.

Looking down to the still rocking Spencer in his lap, Hotch let go of a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “It’s all going to work out, Spencer. We’re all here for you.”

Spencer’s head titled up, looking up as his body stilled. Hotch was staring down at Reid’s big brown eyes. Somehow, they looked bigger now that he was younger, and he even noticed a light dusting of freckles across Spencer’s face.

Hotch gave him a warm smile, a rare look for him. Spencer put his head back down as his little arms latched onto Hotch’s middle, hugging him as tightly as his little body would let him as a soft hum left the child.

He used that as an invitation to slow and stop his own rocking, gently putting his own arms around Spencer to return the hug.

After a moment, Hotch spoke gently, his voice soft, “How do you feel about going out to see the others before they head home?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, comments are appreciated! Let me know what you think so far, or suggest things you wanna see happen in later chapters! I'm open to all sorts of ideas! Support is always welcome!


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